Bats

Gabriele Asare, posted on YouTube

Like many other West African cities, Monrovia is beset with large colonies of bats, when not hanging over the city from the ruins of stately Cotton trees, they swarm the skies like a plague of locusts. There are about five or so such trees in central Monrovia, broad and ancient, that rise above the rooflines of the oldest parts of town.

Denuded and presumably dead, they are enlivened by the diabolical presence of hundreds and thousands of flying mammals. Once, while driving up Snapper Hill to the Ducor Hotel, I passed one of these great dead oaks, its countless inhabitants clinging under each huge limb like dried fruit, while a few diurnal specimens flittered about. A single bat, ready for a nap, landed upside-down on a branch. It was the straw that broke the camel's back in real life: the weight of that one small flying-mouse was too much; the great old bough came crashing down as if struck by lightning: thunder clap and all. Dazed creatures, panicked by the pruning and blinded by the afternoon sun, flew chaotically in all directions: some directly into the ground, some into a chain-link fence where they became entangled. Within moments, a price had been put on a bar, and I am told by a friend who lived nearby that bat soup was the weekly special.

Even absent such a spectacular event, these tree-colonies are remarkable scenes though they are in many ways unsettling. The nearest image to the hive of half-frenetic, half-febrile activity would be vultures on a carcass, yet a carcass would never have so many ravenous attackers. When frenzy hits these nocturnal clans, the sky darkens a shade, the already-brief evening hour hastily blotted out with each small pair of slightly-translucent stretched-skin wings. The Wingéd Monkeys, lifting off to the shrill commands of the Wicked Witch of the West, come to mind.

This threatening aspect has grown with the swelling of the Ebola panic which has swept into town and onto the headlines of the newspapers. A popular fact shared among acquaintances is that fruit bats are the carriers of the virus, and Guinea has gone so far as to ban the eating of bats. So it is not too far from the mind to think of the immune risk when the sky darkens with the flittering, furry beasts, carrying death from afar. A report from Abidjan, from earlier in the month, chronicled just this wariness, of wrath of sky-borne couriers of the fever. Even before all the attention given to their presence due to the virus, they were seen as pests to eradicated. Both the U.S. Embassy and at times the local government have chopped down trees hosting bats.

Laurent Guilard posted in the Daily Motion

Despite lending themselves so excellently to be wicked omens of doom, the chattering communities of bats are an amazing site in the middle of the the concrete jungles of urban West Africa. I hope they remain overhead.

Liberia Marathon tomorrow

The second Liberia Marathon is tomorrow, and while once again I am not running in either the full 26.2 mile race, nor the 10K, I wanted to highlight two runners that are, and both for good causes.

The first was mentioned in the previous post: Blair Glencorse, head of the Accountability Lab, is running the 10K. Check out their Facebook page, also.

Secondly, Bert Monro, head of business development for Hummingbird Resources, a UK-based mineral exploration company, will be running the full marathon in a pink pygmy hippo costume, to raise funds for, and awareness of the Pygmy Hippo Foundation, which Hummingbird founded a few years ago to protect critical forest habitat of pygmy hippos, less than 3,000 of which survive in the Upper Guinean forests of West Africa, particularly Liberia. 

To support to Bert's ridiculous run, visit his Just Giving Page, where every donation of £30/$45 or more will receive a "Run Like a Pygmy Hippo" t-shirt. Also check out the Pygmy Hippo Foundation's Facebook page. All donations go to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation, which will directly be used for conservation initiatives for Liberia's unique pygmy hippos. 

"Mountain" Disappears in Sinoe, No Comment from Superintendent

A report from July, bylined O. Testiomeny Zeongar in the Heritage Newspaper, as reprinted in AllAfrica (emphasis added, as always):

Reports gathered from the South Eastern Liberian County of Sinoe say a rather strange occurrence has taken place in that part of the country.

According to the reports, a mountain approximately 30 feet high, has suddenly disappeared from the land space it had previously occupied for several years, and is no longer visible in the area. The mountain, named Tarjue, which was situated between Tarjuewon and Gbarzohn Districts, the reports divulged, recently vanished in thin air, leaving many persons in Sinoe County in a state of bewilderment. 

The reports further divulged that the Tarjue Mountain, which is believed to be rich in the mineral resource of bauxite, vanished when preparations for mining activities by the Valley Exploration Company heightened. Prior to its reported disappearance, the ownership of Tarjue Mountain was heavily contested by Sinoe citizens from Tarjuewon and Ggbarzohn Districts, the reports intimated. 

Meanwhile, authorities of the county, including Superintendent J. Milton Teajay are yet to comment on the reported mysterious disappearance of the mountain in question.

 (Is a pile of possible-minerals the height of a 2-story house really a mountain?)

Ripped from the Liberian Headlines: Giant Caterpillars Invade Grand Cape Mount: Chop down fruit trees, threaten police

This is the type of reporting I've only ever encountered here, with its wonderfully inaccurate, vague, and apocryphal style. From yesterday's Inquirer newspaper (emphasis added):

Caterpillars Invade Cape Mount Again - Chops Grapefruit Tree, Threatens Police Station

Caterpillars have again surfaced in Garwula District, Grand Cape Mount County after they were last discovered in Jewajeh Town, Tewor District.

The giant size caterpillars were discovered in Sinje Town, next to the Sinje Police Checkpoint after they attacked and chopped off the leaves of a tree close to the area.

According to the Police in Sinji, some of the caterpillars were heading toward the police station, but were burned to avoid infestation.

This paper was also informed by some residents of a nearby village that the caterpillars have eaten-up the leaves of a grapefruit tree and are moving to other tree crops in the area.

According to the Agriculture Coordinator of Grand Cape Mount County, Mr. Gboto Massaquoi, the caterpillars are not army worms and are not very harmful as compared to army worms.

He added that from the survey conducted by his office, the caterpillars were not in large quantity. He said a team of experts from the Ministry of Agriculture has successfully sprayed the caterpillars in the county and is no longer found in the area.

It is yet to be seen whether the insects will resurface in other areas in the county.

The imagery is hilarious and wonderful: an army of giant caterpillars invade a whole county, attacking a police checkpoint and chasing the police to their station, so that the immediate area had to be set ablaze like the Atlanta munitions depot in the face of the approaching Sherman's march. Meanwhile some villagers nearby report that a single grapefruit tree "in the area" had had a few leaves clipped.

Ripped from the Liberian Headlines: Giant Caterpillars Invade Grand Cape Mount: Chop down fruit trees, threaten police

This is the type of reporting I've only ever encountered here, with its wonderfully inaccurate, vague, and apocryphal style. From yesterday's Inquirer newspaper (emphasis added):

Caterpillars Invade Cape Mount Again - Chops Grapefruit Tree, Threatens Police Station

Caterpillars have again surfaced in Garwula District, Grand Cape Mount County after they were last discovered in Jewajeh Town, Tewor District.

The giant size caterpillars were discovered in Sinje Town, next to the Sinje Police Checkpoint after they attacked and chopped off the leaves of a tree close to the area.

According to the Police in Sinji, some of the caterpillars were heading toward the police station, but were burned to avoid infestation.

This paper was also informed by some residents of a nearby village that the caterpillars have eaten-up the leaves of a grapefruit tree and are moving to other tree crops in the area.

According to the Agriculture Coordinator of Grand Cape Mount County, Mr. Gboto Massaquoi, the caterpillars are not army worms and are not very harmful as compared to army worms.

He added that from the survey conducted by his office, the caterpillars were not in large quantity. He said a team of experts from the Ministry of Agriculture has successfully sprayed the caterpillars in the county and is no longer found in the area.

It is yet to be seen whether the insects will resurface in other areas in the county.

The imagery is hilarious and wonderful: an army of giant caterpillars invade a whole county, attacking a police checkpoint and chasing the police to their station, so that the immediate area had to be set ablaze like the Atlanta munitions depot in the face of the approaching Sherman's march. Meanwhile some villagers nearby report that a single grapefruit tree "in the area" had had a few leaves clipped.